Terrorism in Sweden: five arrested

Five people have been arrested by security services in Stockholm, Sweden for planning a terrorist attack in response to actions by the far-right party of Rasmus Paludan, , perpetrator of the infamous burning of the Qur’an in January.

This gesture has caused a strong unrest in many Islamic countries, from the Middle East to Asia, passing through to the Gulf, with even violent street demonstrations. The diplomatic consequences prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to interrupt negotiations with Sweden and Finland on their NATO membership

The entry of Sweden and Finland into the alliance, motivated by the Russian military intervention in Ukraine and ending two centuries of military non-alignment, was approved at the summit last June in Madrid, after Turkey lifted its veto in exchange for some conditions, embodied in an agreement.

The Swedish judiciary has ordered to cancel the decision taken by the police to prevent the burning of the Qur’an during the demonstrations of recent weeks in Sweden to protest against Turkey, which is asking for the arrest of Kurdish militants present in the area as a condition for the green light to Stockholm's accession to NATO.

From the Supreme Court of Sweden, the police "did not have sufficient elements to take this decision", taking into account that the threats invoked to ban these gestures "were not sufficiently concrete or linked to the demonstrations in question".

The decision of the Danish far-right politician, Rasmus Paludan, refers to the Kremlin's role in financing far-right figures and entities to polarize Swedish society and relations with Turkey in order to oppose the Scandinavian country's entry into NATO.

We believed that in our Europe the burning of books was now a legacy of dark times to be forgotten. But if burning a book is in any case an unspeakable gesture, it becomes unacceptable if the target is the Holy Book of any religious creed.

Editorial